Black Caps on back foot as England look to level series
Advantage England. Now, it’s all but a case of how long they feel they need to snare 10 New Zealand wickets to level the two-test series.
England reached 202-3 in their second innings at stumps at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval yesterday, boasting an overall lead of 231 with two days to play.
Chasing a win to finish a lengthy, and so far unfruitful, tour of Australia and New Zealand in the longest form of the game on a high, England captain Joe Root has nothing to lose and will be sure not to sell his team short.
With wickets in hand and no immediate threat of a new Kookaburra being fired down at them, they’re in a position to bat New Zealand out of the game, and to give themselves ample time to knock them over.
Of course, the Black Caps aren’t yet out of it. A flurry of wickets early on day four will change the complexion of a match which has somewhat see-sawed throughout.
Root (30) and Dawid Malan (19) will this morning continue England’s second dig, which started with them holding a first-innings lead of 29-runs shortly before lunch yesterday.
England, having finally dismissed the Black Caps for 278, suffered an early setback when out-of-sorts Alistair Cook (two runs) was caught behind off Trent Boult’s bowling. It was the ninth time Boult’s sent him packing in his career.
However, under-fire opener Mark Stoneman (60) and No 3 James Vince (76) combined for a 123-run stand on a Hagley Oval surface hiding few demons.
Stoneman, perhaps batting to save his spot in the team, was dropped twice - by Ross Taylor and Tim Southee in the slips - and survived a review after he’d been given caught behind off Neil Wagner’s bowling.
Before Stoneman was fabulously caught by keeper BJ Watling after chasing a wide delivery, he and Vince were relatively untroubled, even against the new ball which has practically done all the damage in the final match of the New Zealand summer.
Remarkably, all 23 wickets to fall in the match have been taken by Trent Boult (five), Southee (eight), Stuart Broad (six) and Jimmy Anderson (four). It’s the first time since 1912 that four opening bowlers have taken at least the first 20 wickets in a test.
Taylor made amends for dropping Stoneman late in the day, when he held on to a sharp chance at wide-slip to get rid of Vince, who will be kicking himself for going after a wide Boult delivery.
The visitors endured a frustrating morning session in which New Zealand’s lower order added 86 runs to the overnight total and slashed a once ominous firstinnings deficit to 29 runs.
Southee, not everyone’s preferred No 8, kicked on after BJ Watling (85) was bowled by an Anderson peach, battering eight fours and a six to notch his fourth test 50, and first since 2014 (v Pakistan).
It backed up the 6-62 he snared in England’s first innings. The only other time in his career he picked up a five-wicket bag and reached 50 with the bat was on debut, against England in 2008.
Wagner (24 not out) and Boult (16) also got on England’s nerves with streaky innings, before Broad and his recently tweaked bowling action killed them off.